flying saucers [Min KSP 1.12.2] Kerbal Flying Saucers - Build Flying Saucers in KSP!

[Angelo Kerman]

Latest Release

Source

Sample Craft (also found in WildBlueIndustries/FlyingSaucers/Ships/SPH)

Gerra Kerman, test pilot. She liked the sound of that! Here she was, standing in front of her first assignment, parked on the tarmac at KSC. Gerra whistled, marveling at the design and then began walking around the strange aircraft. It had a disc-shaped body easily 6 meters in diameter and over a meter thick. Add the trailing wings, and the aircraft spanned 8 meters. Its leading edges had gray carbon panels, ready to resist the heat of atmospheric entry, with dark heat-resistant tiles trailing the edge. A set of windows followed the craft’s contours, but they only gave a view out the front. As she walked around to the back, Gerra saw a sculpted engine housing that sported a strange looking engine with a sloped ramp. Then she realized that the craft was a transatmospheric vehicle, a flying saucer!

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Spoiler

A lone figure stepped out of the cavernous hangar at KSC and approached Gerra. He was dressed in a deep blue flight suit with red stripes. “Hello,” the kerbal said, “you must be Gerra. I’m-“

“What pilot doesn’t know you, Sir,” Gerra blurted out and vigorously shook his hand. “It’s an honor to meet you.” She pointed at the strange aircraft. “Your handiwork, I take it?”

“Oh yes,” he said, “One of my latest, the result of several years of dreaming and research and frustrating delays. And the most challenging. Success that isn’t handed to you takes hard work and dedication and long hours, and it’s never a straight line… Anyway, let’s get you checked out in the Flapjack, ok?”

A flying pancake, how appropriate, Gerra thought to herself. She readily agreed, and the two kerbals climbed up the boarding ladder and onto the top of the disc-shaped lifting body. She immediately noticed that the central section was made of a shiny blue-gray metal. “What metal is this,” she asked.

“That’s uh, above your pay grade,” the kerbal responded, rubbing his hair nervously. “At least for now. Anyway, here’s the deal. This is just an orientation flight, so no orbital hops to Groom Lake Air Force Station today- uh, you didn’t hear that. I’ll taxi the Flapjack out to the runway and get her up to altitude, then hand the controls over to you.”

Gerra blinked. “Uh, Sir, aren’t you an engineer…?”

“Actually, I’m a flight engineer,” he corrected. “I can handle most routine piloting tasks, but some things I have to leave to the experts. I do test the aircraft I design, you know.”

“Okay…”

“Don’t worry, Major, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to fly. And once you’ve mastered the A-51, there’s a highly classified and much more interesting ship in your future…”

Have you ever wanted to pretend that your kerbals found a crashed flying saucer and then the little green men and women reverse-engineered it? With Kerbal Flying Saucers (KFS), now you can! KFS is a mod that lets you research and build your own custom flying saucers that work within established gameplay mechanics while providing exotic twists. It’s as easy as mixing and matching components to create a vehicle suited to your needs. And with its custom tech tree branch and research experiments, you can simulate your reverse-engineering efforts via the stock science system- and possibly unlock parts early!

Kerbal Flying Saucers is inspired by real-world saucer-shaped craft like Avro Canada's VZ-9 Avrocar, North American Aviation's Lenticular Reentry Vehicle, USAF's Project 1794, and Northrop's NS-97.

Required Mods:

Tutorial Videos

Spoiler

 

More Pics:

Waterfall engine configs by @Horizons Aerospace

[adsii1970]

Once the game is stable and no longer requires updates (too frequently), I look forward to abusing this mod.

[Beetlecat]

Kerbal XCOM!!!

I may be rather keen on seeing where this goes

[Acvila]

http://jnaudin.free.fr/html/coanda.htm

https://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/ontario/coanda-effect-avrocar/

Edited April 13, 2018 by Acvila

[Mrcarrot]

So this was your secret project....

I look forward to abusing it!

[CobaltWolf]

first

[SchwinnTropius]

Ooh. I see NCC 1701 replicas in the future. I for sure will make ships inspired by said ship.

[DeltaDizzy]

I must believe(that this will work on 1.3)!

[linuxgurugamer]

3 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

first

Not

[Bombaatu]

Danger, Will Robinson!

[riddik]

Amazing!!!We want to believe0))

[Angelo Kerman]

Thanks all! This is indeed my top secret project, long delayed, and definitely the most challenging. I'm a software designer by trade, not an artist, so coming up with a design that's both alien and kerbal has been particularly hard. But I'm pretty delighted with how the prototype has turned out. Speaking of which, here are some IVA WIPS:

My plan is to texture and outfit the IVAs with props for the A-51, then build some test pieces for the mothership so that I can complete its functionality. Once I get that done then I can make a public alpha release. I do have enough done that I could do a private release, but I'd need players who can provide feedback on the playability. For instance, Graviolium is hard to get. Most planets don't have any, and you'll have to go after asteroids or use the new Refinery to slowly produce the resource at an expensive cost. Does it last long enough in the saucer's generators to make the effort to obtain it worth it?

Also, the Gravitic Generator produces GravityWaves from Graviolium, but it also produces StaticCharge. When your StaticCharge storage is full, you can't generate any more GravityWaves. Does the saucer get charged up too fast? Too slow? Should it be able to reach the Mun on a single tank?

There are other questions, but these are just a few of the things I'm wrestling with as I create the parts, the functionality, and the lore behind the saucers.

[theonegalen]

How interesting.

I look forward to more.

[Acvila]

May i suggest for low tech flying saucer one based Coanda effect because of the design?

[Barzon]

Mein Gott. Also PLEASE could you release what parts you can, I don't think anyone really minds if they are very basic, and have no IVAs?

Edited April 14, 2018 by Barzon Kerman

[vardicd]

But... But..... {looks at unavailable download button mournfully.} I neeeeeeeed it nooooooooow.

[Gargamel]

I might just build an USS Enterprise from this.......

[Sunesha]

Sweet I actually wanted to build this kind of things for long time. But to get ufo aerodynamically stable with stock parts is a headache, as my solutions are just creative but rarely feasible. I shamefully stick them inside fairings and have to pretend they didn't got out the atmosphere with help of rocket. I hang my head when I can see glowing respect leaves Kerbals once worshiping eyes. Am I taking this to seriously, of course a Space Program manager is often just measured by his last launch. 

[Barzon]

Can't wait to make a  Jupiter III replica!

[Angelo Kerman]

After struggling through several bugs this morning, I finally managed to put together a demo video:

The stuff I ran into is why I'm not rushing the release of this mod...

[JadeOfMaar]

4 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

I finally managed to put together a demo video:

Intensity intensifies..........

[adsii1970]

@Angel-125...

I  owe you some likes today...

[Sunesha]

Can you fly emerged in liquids? Land on jool? 

I really look forward to learning new ways exploit this new technology. I really like the visuals too. I like the whole approach with the classic ufo. I think it fits well with Kerbal style of thing. 

[theonegalen]

This is all going to end with Kerbals crash landing a UFO on RSS Earth and then an RSS Earth series, right?

 

(or not)

 

Are you planning a CTT config to put this waaaay at the end of the techtree? Because it seems like having this would mean there's not much point for things like DSEV.

Edited April 15, 2018 by theonegalen

[Angelo Kerman]

56 minutes ago, Sunesha said:

Can you fly emerged in liquids? Land on jool? 

I really look forward to learning new ways exploit this new technology. I really like the visuals too. I like the whole approach with the classic ufo. I think it fits well with Kerbal style of thing. 

You can fly underwater, but can't land on Jool. No craft in KSP can do that. Glad you like the classic UFO look, that's exactly what I was going for.

23 minutes ago, theonegalen said:

This is all going to end with Kerbals crash landing a UFO on RSS Earth and then an RSS Earth series, right?

 

(or not)

 

Are you planning a CTT config to put this waaaay at the end of the techtree? Because it seems like having this would mean there's not much point for things like DSEV.

The tech nodes are already in line with CTT. The science costs reflect the appropriate CTT tech tree tier. I've also balanced out when you get certain functionality. You won't get Crazy Mode until unlocking Gravity Wave Applications, for instance, and while the A-51 saucer parts are available mid-game, it'll be conventionally powered. Same goes for the gravitic fusion reactor- the saucer is underpowered with the SAFER reactor by design, but you get it at Gravity Wave Applications too. You'll get the mothership's FTL engine after unlocking Advanced Alien Engineering. Hence, DSEV still has a place; the Hypernova lets you reach for the stars, but it'll still take you awhile to get there.

The only caveat is the Kray Kray supercomputer. It's as expensive as an SSME, but there's a small chance that you'll achieve a breakthrough and unlock parts in one of the alien tech tree nodes- but only if you're running its experiment next to a crashed flying saucer. The K2 is conveniently the size of the Buckboard 1000...

Edited April 15, 2018 by Angel-125